BEIJING/HONG KONG Oct 31 (Reuters) - A fund linked to
Singapore's Temasek Holdings became the third foreign
state-linked entity to have their China investment quotas raised
to $1.5 billion, signalling that interest in the world's
second-largest economy remains robust.

Temasek Fullerton Alpha Pte Ltd received an additional $500
million in quotas in October, part of the $1.02 billion in fresh
combined quotas that the China's State Administration of Foreign
Exchange (SAFE) issued to licensed overseas institutional
investors for the month, data showed on Thursday.

That increased the total quotas issued under the Qualified
Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) programme to $48.51
billion by the end of October from $47.49 billion a month
earlier. SAFE issued $4 billion in quotas in the third quarter.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority was the first to reach $1.5
billion in August, while the Norwegian central bank followed in
September.

This brings the licences issued in the third quarter to 11
and to 34 this year. There are now 240 licencees under the
program.

October licence application results will be announced in
mid-November. Institutional investors need to apply for a
licence from the securities regulator to be eligible to seek
investment quotas from the foreign exchange regulator.